If a tree falls. . .

Writing a blog post can feel a bit like that. Does anyone hear it? See it? Much less take time to read it. Flaming Hot's subject of the week is What does your website do for you?

Since my website and blog are one and the same I certainly hope they are promoting my beads and myself. My goal is to have a site where I post my latest beads for sale and have them fly out the door the same day. Impossible? No, there are artists out there doing it, but I know it will take more than putting a page up on the web and waiting for visitor's to come flocking.

I am constantly working towards getting more recognition on the web and in the real world. At the minute I almost feel like my website is one of my offspring! I tend to it regulary, and worry and fuss when somethings not working right. I had a stupid technical problem this week, that has meant disabling some of my plugins one of which is the 'shop', and I just can't find the answer to that which is frustrating me no end.

Here are some of the tools I use to make my website do as much of the work as possible.

I use Wordpress a blogging tool that lets you have multiple pages - a website! Everything in one place with links to my Etsy and iCraft stores.

I blog regularly, (this is why I joined Flaming Hot - sometimes I need help figuring out what to write!), its no use having a website that is static, it won't attract many people and those that do come won't keep coming back if everything stays the same. I'm also realising that blogging can be a very interesting tool for driving traffic to your site! I wrote a post about Nortel's Mega Minor and have had all kinds of visitors because people have been typing 'mega minor' into google and my blog is coming up in the listings. How do I know this?

I use Statcounter it's free, and it tracks who is coming to my blog with wonderful detail - if they've searched it shows me the terms they were searching, I can see where they are from, which pages they visited and for how long, even what browser they're using. It's fun and I have to admit a little bit addictive to see who's stopped by for a visit!

I link my site to others where possible to try and drive more traffic my way. This might be from another site or an online directory. Here's a new one that has just started Glassdir.com they are listing Glass Artists by country. Don't forget to put your site address on anything you can that is not on the internet as well ;o)

And I scour the net looking for sites that offer tips on building business online and off. I just discovered Lori Greenberg's Bead Nerd blog which has an amazing amount of information for anyone wanting to turn their beadmaking into a business. Thank you Lori - I'm learning a LOT! I even just got one of those neat little favicons that show up in your browser bar when someone is looking at your site, I've wanted one of those for a while :o)



I guess at the very least my site is keeping me out of mischief and helping me retain some of my brain cells. It's a challenge to see what I can do next to get more people to visit and keep them coming back and it beats playing online games because hopefully there will be some real rewards at the end of it all!